Social impact is at the heart of everything we do. Each group company contributes to the six pillars of our social value framework: stakeholder involvement, social inclusion, wellbeing, sustainability, social innovation / entrepreneurship and reinvestment.

Bryson LaganSports Board

Linda Brown (Chair)

Linda graduated in Economics, Accounts and Commercial Law at Queen's University Belfast. Linda’s early career saw her work as a teacher, in the travel business and as a lecturer at the College of Business Studies. Linda was appointed as the first female Assistant Director of the Confederation of British Industry in Northern Ireland, which led to a three year contract as producer of business, general and documentary programmes with BBC Radio Ulster.

Linda joined Business in the Community and soon became Director, a role which saw her assisting companies to develop a strategic approach to their community involvement through community involvement audits.

Since 1995, Linda has held the post of Divisional Director of the Institute of Directors (IOD) Northern Ireland Division reporting to reports to the IoD headquarters at Pall Mall in London. In this role, Linda works with business people, government and representatives from across public, private and voluntary sectors.

Linda is also a director of Elleray Brown Limited, a small publishing company.

Penny McKeown

Penny has a wealth of experience in the education and public sector in Northern Ireland.

After qualifying, Penny worked as a teacher in Belfast for twelve years before taking on the position of Education Officer in the South Eastern Education and Library Board. Penny then moved into the Higher Education sector working at both the University of Ulster and Queens University Belfast. Here Penny worked on a number of research projects focusing on her special interest areas of public policy and management. Specialist research projects included school governance, management in the public sector and outcomes for disadvantaged teenagers.

Since retiring, Penny has continued to positively impact on the education sector. Penny has acted as School Governor, undertaken annual evaluations for the Education and Library Boards and carried out ‘Schools Curriculum Awards’ assessments.

Penny is a Board member on both Bryson Care and Bryson LaganSports, enabling her to bring knowledge and passion around education and working with ‘hard to reach’ communities.